Antique Yarn

In yesterday's post I meant to include a link to the site that includes a video on the Continental Cast-On.  This method allows some "give" in the stitches and leaves a really nice edge.  Here's the link: http://www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/long-tail-cast-on

My grandmother on my father's side taught me to knit.  My mother gave it a go but she was left-handed which made all explanations very complicated.  When I was 13 I spent a week in Peoria, Illinois with my grandparents and learned the knitting basics.  Last night I looked through a notebook of old patterns I've held onto and found the drawings my grandmother made to show me how to hold the yarn when casting on.  There is an accompanying typed page of simple directions on how to knit, purl, and cast on using the Continental Method.  My grandmother was a very good knitter and typist.  She liked things to be done precisely.

I have one piece of advice:  If you are refreshing your knitting skills or just starting out, stay with casting on until you have all the stitches you need on your needle.  I am embarrassed to tell you how many times I had to start over because I kept getting lost in the process.  Last night I realized that casting on the first two stitches sets the yarn and your fingers in position for the remaining work to be done.  When I stopped mid-stream and picked up the work later to finish I positioned everything as I did in the very beginning, which is different from the position used once those stitches are cast on.

My brain is certainly getting a workout.

The yarn for my current project is antique yarn.  [I was going to say "old yarn" but that may draw searchers who are looking for stories no one would believe.]  When Ken and I were married my grandmother knit us a beautiful afghan that still rests on the back of our couch.  She included an extra skein of the yarn should repairs ever be needed.  Thirty-six years later the afghan is as soft and warm as the day she made it, so I have decided to use the yarn.  As things progress I will take photos - I need natural sunlight to get good pictures.

Each night I read a few pages in Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's book Free-Range Knitter.  Two nights ago I was lying in bed reading and laughing out loud.  She makes no pretense of knowing more than anyone else or of having it all together, as a mother or a knitter.  Stephanie gives me hope that one way or the other the strands of life will come together and that whatever happens I am not in this alone, as a mother or a knitter.